Best places in the UK to start a business? Interactive map shows Winchester is best for start-ups while survival rates in Cardiff are low

One of the perils of starting your own business is the danger of going under during its fragile early years.

There are many reasons this could happen, including lack of funding or appetite for the product - but it seems which location you choose could significantly affect the survival chances of your start-up.

The number of start-up businesses hit record highs in 2014, with 581,173 launched. But two years on, how many are still going?

Closed for business: Newly-launched start-ups in Cardiff were the least likely to survive

The top two cities for start-ups are both in Hampshire, with small businesses enjoying a 77.6 per cent chance of survival in Winchester, closely followed by 76.9 per cent in Portsmouth.

In third place is St Albans, where businesses had a 73.8 per cent chance of still trading two years on. Carlisle in Cumbria and Chichester in West Sussex round out the top five.

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So why has Winchester bagged the top spot? It could be down to a combination of factors. It is situated in a prosperous part of the country.

It is close enough to London to stay connected to the capital but with lower rents and cost of living.

Meanwhile, it ranks as the UK's fourth-best city for recruiting top graduates, with access to the nearby graduate pools of Oxford and Cambridge.

Click 'launch' below and select different parts of the map to see where in the UK start-ups do best

The map shows the survival rates of new start-ups in 50 cities between January 2014 and January 2016.

On the flip side, it seems the toughest place to launch your business is Cardiff, with two-year survival rates flagging at 58.9 per cent.

Manchester and Swansea weren't much better, boasting survival rates of just 60.7 and 60.9 per cent respectively.

Secrets to survival: The top and bottom five places to launch a new business

Top five best spots

1. Winchester (77.6 per cent survival)

2. Portsmouth (76.9 per cent survival)

3. St Albans (73.8 per cent survival)

4. Carlisle (73.5 per cent survival)

5. Chichester (73.4 per cent survival)

...and the top five worst places

1. Cardiff (58.9 per cent survival)

2. Manchester (60.7 per cent survival)

3. Swansea (60.9 per cent survival)

4. Birmingham (61.3 per cent survival)

5. Wakefield (61.4 per cent survival)

The research was conducted by cloud-based communications service Vonage, using figures from the Office for National Statistics and business data provider CompanyCheck,

The data was sourced by identifying all UK Limited companies incorporated in 2014 that have a registered postcode area within a city and have filed at least one year’s accounts, which it then used to create the interactive map.

The research also looked at the survival rates based on industry. It found that health-orientated businesses were most likely to success while creative professions were more likely to struggle.

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Most successful start-up industries:

1. Nursing Homes (91.4 per cent success)

2. Road Freight Services (90.9 per cent success)

3. GP Services (90.1 per cent success)

4. Dentistry (90 per cent success)

5. Engineering Design Activities (89.7 per cent success)

Least successful start-up industries:

1. External Building Cleaning (77.9 per cent survival)

2. Film Production (78.2 per cent survival)

3. Recruitment Agency (78.3 per cent survival)

4. Sports Activities (78.9 per cent survival)

5. Art & Design (79.3 per cent survival)

In Winchester, the top location for start-ups, the key industries were IT, scientific technical engineering and business support services.

Reflecting Britain's ageing population, the most successful start-up industry was revealed to be nursing homes, with more than nine out of 10 still going two years later.

By contrast less that eight out of 10 film production and art and design start-ups were still in business.